


The Legend of The Princess of Metal

by Pirxeval



Category: Brütal Legend, アグレッシブ烈子 | Aggressive Retsuko | Aggretsuko (Anime)
Genre: Brütal Legend Head Canon, Death Metal, Eddy Riggs won't be in this story, F/F, F/M, I havent written for this in so long, M/M, Ugh, completely new plotline for Brütal Legend part, i dont know any japanese death metal groups, i ship haida and retsuko so fuckin hard, ill either make up music, im so sorry, nothing but death metal, or use western death metal
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-11
Updated: 2018-05-11
Packaged: 2019-05-05 06:09:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14611218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pirxeval/pseuds/Pirxeval
Summary: Retsuko has had a horrible time since the founding of the company. She is pushed around, yelled at, walked all over, and she can’t seem to get herself to do anything about it. Then she finds a karaoke parlor in an alley and sings her heart out. Now she has to deal with magic, demons, traveling back and forth through time, and now she has… a roadie? How will Retsuko juggle time traveling, killing demon armies, AND work all at the same time?





	The Legend of The Princess of Metal

**Author's Note:**

> It’s fucking midnight and im writing this shit for no reason other than i have to get it out of my head or i was going to piss myself
> 
> Please enjoy this
> 
> Otherwise i may commit seppuku

It’s a few days after the beginning of the new year of 2017.

And her patience is nearing its end.

Four.

Four years.

Four long years.

Four fucking long, hard, unrepentant years of her life given to the company.

The very same company that has whittled her patience and tolerance down to nearly nothing.

Don’t get her wrong, Retsuko enjoys her job. Some of the time. Very little of the time, actually. But she does her job because it’s what she went to school for; number-crunching.

She’s good at it too. Not as good as some of her coworkers and most certainly not her boss. No, Mr. Ton far out-classed her and all her coworkers in that field. But still, Retsuko knows that she is good at what she does.

Retsuko sighs as the cold rain patters against her raincoat.

It’s a friday night, which would usually be a godsend for an overwhelmed office worker such as this little red panda, but the dark and gloomy overcast and freezing precipitation overrode the relieving feel of a stressful week’s end.

Retsuko decided to take her time walking home. The cold showers did nothing to cool the heat under her raincoat. She stayed warm under her plastic yellow coat despite wearing nothing but her dress shirt and skirt underneath. Her warmth was thanks to a seething heat that stemmed from within her head. This heat was so immutable that she barely felt the cold droplets hit her face. The short red panda took this slow walk in the rain to think about the past few days.

The week started off well enough. Retsuko went into work, visited the women’s dressing room, chatted with Fenneko, sat at her desk, started working, got more work passed on to her, received more verbal and mental abuse at the hands of her superiors, the usual stuff. The usual stuff that she could deal with. But that night, when she went home, Retsuko felt something inside her mind shift. Something she can only describe as a cold bubble. She fell asleep that night, with some difficulty.

The next day came with the usual song and dance. Except her close hyaenid friend, Haida, had given her a cold can of some type of fruit juice that she ended up really liking. He was a sweetheart like that, sometimes. Unfortunately, she hadn’t bothered to check what kind or what brand of juice it was before tossing the can, and she didn’t have the heart to bother Haida for more. When Retsuko made it home that night and fell asleep, that same cold bubble made its way into her head again. But this time, it was different. The “bubble” felt bigger somehow, big enough to cause an inordinate amount of mental discomfort.

The bubble was no longer cold.

It was now beginning to gain an unpleasant heat to it.

Retsuko drifted off into a troubled sleep that night.

The next day was more of the same. And when she went home and tried to sleep once more, that same bubble made itself known again. This time, the heat of this “bubble” was near searing and right below the surface. The poor red panda couldn’t ignore this mental discomfort any longer. It was time to admit that this bubble had been building up for a long time. But it was only now that she realised what exactly this “bubble” really was.

It was hate.

It was anger.

It was rage.

And Retsuko could feel it. She was so close to popping that she could physically feel the heat on her back and in her head causing her to sweat. This bubbling fury had been building for so long now. She had been taking so much shit for the four years that she had been working for the company. Four years of verbal and mental abuse and unbearably hard work. Four goddamn years of pretentious, sexist comments. Four goddamn fucking years of having all of her superiors’ primary work shoved onto her desk. All of this from the very fucking beginning of her actual career.

She could feel it now. It’s all right there. Right under the surface of her responsible, goody-two-shoes facade. Pure, bubbling, writhing, burning, rage. Retsuko got out of bed in the middle of the night and drew herself a glass of icy water. The cold drink did nothing to quell the blazing heat in her mind. The anger inside of her soul remained unfettered. If anything, it felt even more intense. She didn’t fall asleep until a few hours after midnight.

The next day, the train she took to her workplace felt hotter and tighter than usual, so much so that it was horribly claustrophobic. After the train stopped, the rest of the walk to her workplace was all a blur until she was sitting at her desk. Retsuko was aware enough to realise that her vulpine friend, Fenneko, had been trying to get her attention. The little red panda gave her best friend an off-handed “I’m fine,” with a smile before turning her attention back to the mountain of work that sat before her. Retsuko snapped at Fenneko the second time the fox spoke to her, giving the sandy-furred vulpine a more curt “I’m fine, Fenneko.” It was only a few seconds after turning back to her work that Retsuko realised that Fenneko wasn’t asking about her well-being, but if she had a paperclip to spare.

 

After apologizing profusely and explaining that she had not gotten a good rest the night before (as well as providing a spare paperclip), the red panda went back to work alongside the fennec fox. Neither spoke to each other for the rest of the day. At some point during the day, Retsuko saw Haida approaching from the corner of her eye before watching Fenneko wave him off. The spotted hyaenid hesitated for a long moment before making his way back to his desk. Retsuko swore she could have felt the heat pulsate harshly within her head.

Unfortunately, her demeanor wasn’t enough to keep Tsubone and Mr. Ton from her. The work on Retsuko’s desk piled on alongside her festering anger. Still, she kept her feelings under wraps.

It went on like this until the end of the week.

Retsuko had gotten better at withholding any curt comments or thoughts, but now as she stood at an empty crosswalk, waiting for the light to signal her to move across, she could feel the festering wrath of her anger ebbing away at the last vestiges of her psyche. This little bubble that Retsuko had been holding in was going to burst at any moment. She did not know how it would burst or in what way. What she did know, however, was that she did not care who or what was before her when it did burst and that whoever or whatever was in her way would be getting the full brunt of this burning wrath within her.

As the red panda tunes back into the world around her, the first thing she notices when she looks back up is the bright, shining, flashing sign above her head.

KARAOKE

As Retsuko looks on at the bold, tasteful white text on the sign, she finds herself drawn to the bright red door beneath it. As if the attention-grabbing lightshow wasn’t attractive enough, just the very idea of sitting in a room to unwind and maybe, just maybe, singing her heart out to get rid of this stress is so alluring that she doesn’t realise that she has walked into the parlor until the man at the desk speaks to her.

“Hello, ma'am.”

Retsuko blinks as the man before her comes into focus. This man is a baboon. The cheery brightness of the blue and red skin on his face contrast harshly with his calm demeanor and strong voice. His brow is so low that his eyes are practically veiled in shadow, which doesn’t help the fact that he’s seems to be squinting.

It takes Retsuko a second to realise that he asked her a question.

“E-excuse me?” She stutters.

The man’s expression does not change. Nor does his voice.

“Room for one, ma’am?”

Again, it takes Retsuko a moment to process the question before she remembers where she is and why she had walked into this parlor in the first place.

Why had she walked in here?

The little red panda had been on autopilot when she even noticed this place’s sign. She doesn’t remember why she thought singing would be a good way of relieving her stress. That’s not how stress works; her life isn’t some TV show where she can sing away her sadness and anger. What kind of music would she even choose? She doubts a bunch of pop-y, bubblegum-y songs would even waver the massive ball of stress that had wormed it way into her mind. And shoulders. And stomach. And feet. And her chest, now that she thinks about it. Can people her age get heart attacks?

But even though she’s changed her mind, Retsuko can’t just leave despite not having taken part in the service. That’d be rude. And it might hurt the guy’s spirit. Retsuko could just imagine having to work here, forced to stand at the front desk late at night while hearing people scream in the other rooms. She almost wanted to say that she understood what the baboon guy has gone through-

“Ma’am?”

><><

‘This is a strange one.’ Babaru thought to himself as he watched the little red bear-cat jump out of her musings.

“Huh? O-oh!” The furry little woman flustered as tried to get her bearings, almost as though she’s just remembering where she is.

“Uh, y-yes?” She stuttered out.

Babaru took three seconds to respond. This is unusual for him. Since he first began working in this little karaoke parlor, his timing was always perfect. Not too perfect, but perfect enough to be above average at this job. He would have responded in what he had intended to be one second, but he had become distracted by a bright red fire.

An angry, red flame- no, a wrathful, infernal, crimson aura had suddenly manifested before his very eyes and his eyes only. In the short second that he took to analyse this blazing fire, he nearly forgot that beneath this flaming red cone was that little red cat-bear from a just a moment ago. In fact, this small cat-bear looked to be the very source of this fiery energy that seemed to writhe and silently scream beneath this bubble that surrounds her.

Never, in all his eternal servitude, had he ever seen such a bright, raging spirit before this woman appeared. It was a reflex at this point, silently and automatically checking the spirit energy of every customer that entered this shop. He had almost forgotten the sole reason he had created this little parlor in this trashy alley. It was a 0.000000001% chance for the very person he had been waiting for to simply waltz into his humble shop. Babaru had prepared himself for thousands upon thousands of years of mind-numbing, insanity-inducing idling to wait for someone with enough spirit to come hobbling into his little abode.

So he couldn’t help but take a third second to take in every little detail about the small red cat-bear before responding.

He nodded, short and curt.

“First name, please?”

“Ah. Retsuko.”

Babaru wrote down that name. He put her down for a specific room. The room that he absolutely needed to see her in before he would drop this little issue. He must make sure. He must know.

“How long will you be having the room for, Miss?” He calmly inquired.

“Retsuko” put a little ginger paw to her chin in what Babaru assumed to be deep thought. The red panda took a few moments to answer. She looked to be having trouble coming to a decision, if her furrowed brow was any indication. Babaru waited for Retsuko’s answer.

When the little red bear-cat answered, it was in a timid almost-whisper.

“W-what would be a good amount of time, d-do you think?”

She was asking for his opinion.

Immediately, he knew that she had never done this before.

“The sessions are put into thirty-minute blocks,” he explained. “A block costs one-hundred and fifty yen on weekdays. Four-hundred and fifty yen on weekends. This does not include costs for food and drink that are ordered.”

Miss Retsuko grew nervous as he mentioned the weekend cost. He could tell by how her eyes widened ever so slightly and how her breathing hitched for a slight second.

 

“Uh-um. Friday wouldn’t happen to count as a weekday here, w-would it?” She smiled shakily.

“Yes, it does.” He quickly spoke.

It didn’t, but Babaru must make an exception for Miss Retsuko.

Retsuko’s mood quickly flipped after Babaru’s response and she quickly spoke back.

“I suppose I’ll have an hour? If that’s okay.” Retsuko said a little more confidently.

Babaru nodded and typed the time allotment into his pad before booking that room.

“Your room is two-one-one. At the end of the hall.”

And so, the Trial of the Fire Beast’s Roar would soon begin.

><><

Retsuko ordered a beer and some snacks to go with it. She hopes it won’t ruin her dinner but she can’t help herself.

Seven minutes of her allotted time have already passed since she entered the room and she has not even attempted to touch the karaoke pad on the other side of the table.

She didn’t know why she was so nervous. At first, she had been afraid that if she even spoke a word, that anyone would be able to hear her on through the walls. But when she brought it up with Mr. Babaru, he had explained that the walls were specially soundproofed for the privacy of the customers. Not even the shrillest cries of an especially rowdy infant could pierce the walls’ soundproof assurance.

Retsuko began to wonder: she doesn’t have to sing, does she?

Really, who would know if she didn’t sing at all, besides her?

Before Retsuko could even begin to think of more excuses, a headache started to form behind her temples. Then a familiar, sweltering heat began creeping up her spine, causing her to sweat a small amount. Voices she’d heard all week began to swim to the forefront of her memory, making her eye twitch in irritation.

“What is this!? This is wrong! And so is this! And here! And here! All of this is wrong! And this one, and this one- THIS one as well! Do them ALL over again! Right now! And open this jar for me, while you’re at it! You should be able to do it with those big arms of yours, rightttt?”

“Oiiiii, Retsukooooo! Do you like this dresssss? I saw it yesterday in that magazine of yours! Isn’t it cuteeeee?”

“Oh hi, Retsukooo! Look, look! My little nephew just took his first steps the other day! Look! Isn’t he juuuust precioussss? Ooh! Have I shown you my little boy in his new clothes yettttt?”

“RETSUKO! I need these stacks stapled! Do them for me while I go take a bathroom break!”

“Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.”

“Uh. Hey, Retsuko. You doin’ alright? If you need any help, you can ask! I don’t got much work today- I got most of it done this morning. Uh- you thirsty at all? I can get you a drink! What are friends for, eh? Oh jeez, That’s a lot of paperwork right there! I don’t envy you at all. I-I mean- why don’t I take half of that load for ya? Eh? No? Are you sure? ‘Cuz it wouldn’t be any prob- Oh! Okay, okay! N-no problem! I can see that, uh, you have it handled! I’ll just, uh, go over here now. Yeah. Yep. Bye-bye. You sure you don’t need any help- okay! I’m going now! *Jeez. Retsuko’s scary today…*”

“Hey, girl. I want tea. Make some for me. That’s your job, isn’t it? To do as I say and get me tea when I ask for it! This suits you, don’t it, Retsuko? Heh heh heh…”

Retsuko began searching through the song lists, looking for anything she felt in the mood for.

She couldn’t find anything that looked like it was fast enough in the first line-up. She couldn’t find anything loud enough in the second list. There was nothing but cheery and lovey songs in the third list. It wasn’t until she got to the fourth list when she spotted an american-sounding title.

The Armageddon's Roar - Mad Metal Gods

She has never heard or read such a blatant, stereotypical band name or song title such as this before.

Retsuko finds herself drawn to the confirmation button. And the “send” button beckons her touch.

Retsuko had taken english in school. She is rather well-spoken in the english language, in fact. There nothing but the best scores in her grades for the english language and literature. She thought it would be useful in her future career. Today, it came in use once in a while but not as much as she would like. Retsuko had never sang in english before, but she had heard others sing. It was like hearing a different language entirely. One separate from english. One that was filled with more passion and articulation than just language.

Retsuko doesn’t know why she is thinking about all of this now, but one thing is for sure. She needs to sing this song. She could feel an urge just bubbling up her throat. She doesn’t know what this urge is exactly, but damn does she need to let whatever it is out.

She presses the “send” button.

Silence.

Her ears twitch as she listens to the speakers activate.

As soon as the karaoke machine’s monitor flickers with orange flames behind the chrome visage of a toothy monster, Retsuko’s eyes are drawn to it and her ears are assaulted with wonderful vibrations.

The passionate, guttural strum of an electric guitar squeals pleasantly in C-minor against her ear drums. The bashing and clashing of drums and cymbals hammer against the inner workings of her brain, massaging her mind with violent, crashing sound. And the bass- oh dear lord, the bass. It rumbles in her chest and stomach as each strum quakes across the air between her and the speakers.

Retsuko is silenced by the beautiful cacophony of wrathful sound. And yet, she can feel a churning force pushing its way up through her throat. For a moment, Retsuko believes she is about to puke. But then she feels her rage and aggression, momentarily forgotten, begin piling up once more. The bubble in her mind was now seathing with potent emotion.

As Retsuko is watching the machine’s screen, she watches as the roaring flames make way for a countdown. Big numbers made of burning metal slowly change as she notices a word slowly forming behind the numbers, made of the same burning metal. It take a short moment for her to figure out what the word is, but it soon becomes clear as the countdown hits the five second mark.

SCREAM.

She feels pure heat bubble up in her throat.

4.

She can almost feel it.

3.

The stress, the irritation, the frustration, the anger, the pure, unadulterated rage filters through her entire body and into her tongue.

2.

She doesn’t know when it happened, but at some point, Retsuko had gotten hold of a mic and is now holding it up to her lips.

She breathes in through her mouth.

She tightens her stomach.

She clenches her throat.

1.

And Retsuko does not scream.

 

She roars.

><><

Across the farthest reaches of time, in a new yet forgotten realm, creatures and humanoids are settled across plains of black grass, long stretches of blood red oceans, forests of metal trees, all under the fiery skies.

Beasts and monsters roam across the lands, creatures of metal and bone and flesh twisted together to create horrible, ugly, carnivorous creations.

Settlers and survivors travel all over these new lands, building towns and colonies, ununified. In trouble.

But all of this land’s inhabitants forget their troubles for a long moment.

For as the flaming shield in the sky that was this realm’s sun made its way into the heavens, a roar is heard across the realm.

Every living being freezes in place.

Spiders that weave webs of metal string stop spinning their homes for a moment.

Revving and popping hogs momentarily freeze their racing.

Armies of demons cease their marching and chanting.

Humanoids stop their working and playing.

A blazing roar shreds among the atmosphere.

Cutting the tops off rusting trees, rolling massive waves in the oceans of blood, putting whimsey into the hearts of people, and striking fear into the souls of demons.

A lone boy walks along a hill, a gigantic pack burdening his shoulders, filled with all manner of things, yet he moves as though weight is but a suggestion to him. Until the roar hits him. Then his knees buckle and he falls to a kneel. He looks up into the air with wide eyes, watching along with the rest of the realm’s inhabitants as the clouds themselves are parted by divine roar.

“The Fire Beast’s lost voice…” The young man’s mouth moves without thought as he speaks aloud unknowingly.

“It… it can’t be… Can it?”

The young man stands up once more and watches the sky. Monstrous birds are falling in divebombs and hitting the ground without stopping. He stares at the sky, following the waves in the clouds to the focal point of the rapturous declaration of pure rage and discontent. He follows the parted clouds to a mountain range on the other side of the land. The epicenter of the rolling soundwave looks to be the tallest peak of the mountain range. Which just so happens to be a place he knows. That peak is home to the last temple devoted to the Cremator of the Sky, the Destroyer of the Ancient World.

This young man, this road-traveling wanderer knows where his next destination will be.

He starts walking, bathing in the guttural roar that reverberates through the air.

“I’m coming, my Metal Princess.” The young man whispers to himself.

“Your Roadie is on his way.”

><><

Almost seven minutes after Miss Retsuko closes the door to her room, a burning, deafening roar is unleashed.

Of course, only Babaru can hear it.

At least, he assumes so because none of the other customers are coming out of their rooms to complain.

And then he feels heat. A building heat slowly rolls over him. He looks down the halls for only a moment before he risks burning himself from the too-pure run-off of unfiltered, rage energy. It’s almost like pure fire is bellowing down the hall from the little red cat-bear’s room. And then Babaru hears the lyrics.

This ceaseless bellows that you feeeeeeel!

This is the end times’ raaaaaaage!!

A punishment you yourself has seaaaaaaaaled!!

I’m the beginning of the death of this aaaaaaaaage!!

Babaru recognises this song. Armageddon’s Roar. Not his favorite, but hearing this new, younger, dirtier voice singing it might just change his mind. Actually, no, it won’t change his mind. The lyrics were just atrocious and the band was simply too stuck in this childish mindset of scream over meaning. But he can’t complain with the wielder of Ormagöden’s Tongue practically singing to him.

After the song is done, he hears Retsuko sing a few more songs of the death metal variety, only pausing to eat the food that was brought to her.

‘So she’s a fan of metal of deathly kind, eh?’ Babaru thinks to himself.

He allows himself the smuggest smile he’s had in a very long time.

‘She’s perfect.’

Until the end of her hour, Babaru feels the immense heat and red aura practically engulfing the entirety of his parlor. He certainly hopes that the rest of his customers and workers are merely ignorant of this power and not actually dead. If this goes on for any longer, Babaru may actually need to step outside for a bit to cool off.

Near the end of her hour, as there is a lull in the little red cat-bear’s tyrade, Babaru calls her room.

“It is nearing the end of your hour, Miss Retsuko. Would you like to extend your time?”

He really hopes she won’t. If her aura saturates the parlor any more, then he doesn’t believe that he can guarantee her safety from outside forces any longer. He may have to intervene and make something up just to get her to leave the area before anything comes sniffing for her.

“Ah… hmm.” Babaru hears her panting as she pulls the phone a bit away from her. She barely sounds winded, however.

“No, thank you. I think I’ll be leaving now.”

‘Oh thank the gods.’

><><

As Retsuko left the parlor, she noticed that the rain had stopped. The air wasn’t as humid as she expected it to be either. Shrugging, Retsuko skipped her way down the streets at night with a slight buzz.

As she made her way home, Retsuko could tell that she felt leagues better after screaming her heart out on that microphone! It was amazing! She didn’t even know that she could growl like that! If she wasn’t kind of buzzed she’d probably be lamenting over how a girl like her shouldn’t be able to sound like a monster with a smoking history having a shouting match with the devil. But as she was, Retsuko was beyond happy! Ecstatic, even! She couldn’t feel a thing after that.

All the way home, and all the way into her bed, all Retsuko could think about was how nice it felt to get it all out like that. How nice it was to just let her all her anger and stress just pour out. It felt so nice to just scream even if it wasn’t in Mr. Ton’s stupid pig face.

Retsuko had one last thought before drifted off into blissful slumber.

‘I should go there every day.’

‘Maybe just every other day.’

Then she fell asleep, lightly snoring like a child.

**Author's Note:**

> It’s 5:33 in the morning
> 
> I started this shit at fuckin 1:00
> 
> Why am i so slow
> 
> My ass hurts from this chair
> 
> And yes i made up that song and its lyrics so dont go looking for it
> 
> Itd be a shit song anyway
> 
> also the title of this chapter is the title of a song
> 
> also if you spot any errors or places i could improve then please tell me


End file.
